


Cereal Killers

by tjstar



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying mentioned, Colors, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 18:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7856641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjstar/pseuds/tjstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new kid in Josh’s school always brings Waffle Crisp for lunch. Josh gets curious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cereal Killers

The lunch is, actually, Josh’s most favorite time at school. Having half an hour of a free time feels like heaven after some ass-kicking tests or PE or something equally energy-intensive; he can just sit at the table with his friend and enjoy the fresh gossips spreading all over the cafeteria.

“Have you heard of a new kid?” Mark asks, sipping the orange juice and trying his best not to pour all of the facts all over Josh.

“Yeah,” Josh nods blankly. He peeks into his lunchbox only to find a turkey sandwich. _‘Thanks, Mom,’_ he groans mentally.

Josh’s mood isn’t wonderful, because he got his nose pierced yesterday, thinking it would be cool, but the silver ring in his nostril still feels foreign.

And in addition to this, he finds this terrible sandwich in his backpack. Well, at least Josh has some money to buy a bag of chips from the vending machine down the hallway. Junk food can’t be unhealthy if Josh’s Mom won’t find out about Josh eating it.

“What’s his name- Taylor?” Mark keeps babbling.

“Tyler,” Josh corrects him. They have a few classes together, and all what Josh knows about Tyler is that he doesn’t talk to anyone in general.

“Hey, you’re interested?” Mark snaps his fingers. “Did you hear his voice? It’s pretty girlish.”

“No, it’s not,” Josh rolls his eyes and closes the lunchbox.

He automatically looks around the cafeteria even though he knows he won’t find a new student here — it looks like that guy tries to hide from everyone. But Josh saw him in the hallway, pressing a box of Waffle Crisp to his chest. Mark only chuckled at that.

“You’re interested in him,” Mark concludes through a mouthful of hot-dog.

“Why do you think he brings cereal for the lunch?” Josh wonders. “Where does he eat?”

“Somewhere. Who cares?” Mark shrugs. “In the restroom. In a locker-room, whatever,” he reaches his hand for Josh’s sandwich. “Can I take a bite?”

“Yeah,” Josh pushes the lunchbox closer to his friend. “I hate turkey anyway.”

“You’re an amazing person, Joshua Dun,” Mark grins, attacking the sandwich like it might run away from him.

Josh can’t understand why Mark is always so hungry, and why he wants to have some Waffle Crisp for lunch so badly.

 

***

The next few days Josh meets Tyler just twice and learns the other small detail about him — Tyler is a quite unfriendly person.

Josh just tries to make his way through the crowd when the familiar lanky figure just emerges out of nowhere; Josh doesn’t have the time to dodge him, so Tyler bumps into him with full force.

“Hey, I’m sor- hey!” Josh bites his tongue when Tyler shoves him away, right into the row of lockers near the wall.

Tyler doesn’t even look at him, staring at the floor and rushing forward, nearly knocking the other students off his way. Josh only glances at Tyler’s back and shrugs, wincing at the slight discomfort in his right shoulder.

The second time, Josh is sincerely grateful that he’s not Tyler’s victim. It’s a lunch time, and Josh is waiting for Mark to go to the cafeteria together; he doesn’t expect to see Tyler in the hallway again. Josh is sitting on the windowsill when Tyler appears, holding a box of cereal and looking sleepy and tired, brown hair disheveled. For a second, Josh wants to go after him and ask why he always eats alone; though, the following event comes as an unpleasant surprise.

Some local jock blocks Tyler’s path with that ‘I’m-gonna-kick-your-ass’ kind of grin on his face; Josh can feel the smell of a fight soaring in the air.

He’s about to leave this lovely windowsill to go and help Tyler.

Though, Tyler doesn’t seem that spineless.

The other guy only reaches his hand to the already open box of cereal when Tyler hits him.

The sound of Tyler’s fist smacking against the guy’s jaw makes Josh feel goosebumps marching up and down his back. There are several gasps coming from the small group of students, somebody offers to call the nurse, because the guy covers his face with his hands, slouching against the side of the locker, and Tyler is running away from the crime scene. A girl tries to catch his sleeve, but Tyler jerks his hand abruptly and hides his blushing cheeks under the hood of his black sweatshirt.

He nearly drops the box as he kicks the door in the end of the hallway open.

“I heard Tyler is mentally ill,” a voice above Josh’s ear drawls.

“I don’t think so,” Josh shakes his head.

“Why do you try to protect him?” Mark asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Josh snaps back.

This whole Tyler-situation starts to irritate him.

“Um, because he pounces on people?” Mark rubs his chin.

“It was that dude’s fault. And tomorrow I’m going to talk to Tyler,” Josh suddenly says.

“What should I say to your Mom if that lunatic kills you?” Mark smirks a little as Josh grabs his backpack and slides off the windowsill.

“Tell her that I loved her,” Josh responds with a forced half-smile.

 

***

 _‘I hope he won’t get mad at me,’_ Josh repeats over and over again like a prayer.

It’s not like he’s scared of Tyler, no, he’s just pretty curious, and the weird new kid is like a magnet for him.

Josh was waiting for a lunch time like never before; he’s only seen Tyler in the morning and then during the Literature class, but Tyler didn’t look interested in the teacher’s lecture, scribbling something down his battered notepad. Josh really wanted to talk to him right after the class, but Mark dragged him to the band room instead.

Josh runs his fingers through the mess of dark curls on his head, tugging at them a little and trying to straighten them even though it’s impossible. Josh taps his foot on the floor longingly; the students just pass by, but the guy with a box of Waffle Crisp is nowhere to be found. Josh gives a high-five to Brendon as he walks down the hallway but refuses to join him on the way to cafeteria.

When the hallway is almost empty, Josh feels a little sad. _A lot_ sad, to be honest.

So, when he finally sees Tyler, he smiles so wide his dry lips hurt. Tyler stands near the wall, eyes glossy and bloodshot as he peeks into the box of cereal.

So, this is Josh’s chance.

“It’s my favorite cereal, too,” Josh says proudly, pointing his finger at the box. Tyler gives him a quick nod and tries to turn away. “Don’t you want to give me some?” Josh continues, moving closer to him. “I have a Snickers bar today, do you like it?”

“No, leave me alone,” Tyler huffs out in warning. “I don’t need anything from you.”

Tyler’s voice is high-pitched and scratchy. That’s probably the reason why he prefers to keep his mouth shut.

Josh is standing right in front of Tyler, and he can even see some tiny crumbs on the front of Tyler’s black hoodie and on his lips, and then Josh’s head fills up with the images of him licking the leftover Waffle Crisp off Tyler’s pretty mouth.

And then everything gets awkward.

Josh just pokes the crumpled box with his finger, but obviously, for Tyler it works like a trigger.

It’s a good thing that Josh is already prepared for Tyler’s unpredictable mood swings.

The heat of Tyler’s bruised knuckles almost burns Josh’s skin; Josh manages to throw his hand up right in time to catch Tyler’s fist when it almost connects with his cheekbone.

Josh wants to pull Tyler’s hand away from his face and let the boy go, but the sleeve of Tyler’s hoodie slides up a little, exposing his left wrist; Josh notices a thin yellow rubber band there, wrapped around a little irritated but still tanned skin. Tyler probably has some nasty habits.

Tyler gulps nervously before screwing his eyes shut.

“What’s wrong?”

Josh almost forgets he’s still gripping Tyler’s hand. That feels oddly natural.

“I don’t want to see a fist coming in my face,” Tyler replies without even opening his eyes. His brown eyelashes are _embarrassingly_ long.

“Why would I do that?!” Josh exclaims in pure amazement.

Tyler unclenches his fist and presses Waffle Crisp to his stomach with his free hand. Then, he blinks his eyes open and strikes Josh down with a fantastically logical question.

“What do you want to do with me then?” Tyler swallows again. “To slam me into the locker? To drown me in the toilet?” the corners of his lips twitch a little. “Just please, don’t break my fingers,” he adds quietly. “I play the piano.”

Tyler’s palm is sticky with sugar and sweat.

“No, no, calm down,” Josh glances at Tyler’s rubber band again, like it keeps mocking him. Tyler looks at it too. “I’m not going to hurt you or something.”

He adjusts Tyler’s sleeve and releases his hand from his grasp, hoping Tyler won’t use the advantage to hit him again.

Tyler takes a deep breath.

“Sometimes, when I’m extremely anxious I forget how my lungs work,” he says. “Well, I _want_ to breathe, but just  _can’t_. And I might actually pass out,” Tyler lets out a short shaky chuckle, looking around the mostly empty hallway.

“Are you feeling okay?” Josh asks. The thought of having Tyler passed out on him is really creepy and makes Josh shudder.

“Okay? Is it even possible?” Tyler scratches the back of his head.

“Well… Yes?” Josh guesses. He can say he’s okay, right?

Tyler chews the inside of his cheek, and his uptight gaze burns Josh’s innards, making Josh feel more than just uncomfortable. Soon enough, Tyler gets distracted by the plastic gauges in Josh’s earlobes; Josh has only started with this thing, though. His ears still hurt sometimes.

“Red means danger,” Tyler suddenly utters.

“What?” Josh clamps his fingers over the gauge.

“Red,” Tyler repeats dazedly. “Don’t you know that?”

Josh’s gauges are red, but he doesn’t know why it’s so important.

“You don’t like red?” Josh asks, trying to figure that out. Tyler’s brain is probably just a hurricane.

Tyler shakes his head.

They walk down the hallway now, there is a bunch of students; they’re whispering something as Josh and Tyler pass by. Tyler only hunches his shoulders and hugs the box of cereal tightly to his chest like it might anchor him to the real world.

“Hey, freak!” somebody shouts.

The waves of rage radiating from Tyler are almost tangible.

“I’ll kick your ass later!” Josh promises to whoever it was.

He thinks they should leave the school building and gently guides Tyler towards the exit; Tyler mostly looks down at his shoes and occasionally left and right as Josh leads him out of the building. They find a wooden bench outside, surrounded by the bushes and sit down onto it, relaxing a bit.

“Do you really want to fight them _for me_?” Tyler wonders.

“Yeah, I don’t usually let some creeps pick on my friends,” Josh responds.

“The last time two punk-y guys said I was their friend and took me to the ‘party’, I ended up in the middle of a night in the forest, alone,” Tyler blurts out, taking some cereal out of the box and shoving it into his mouth. “I was wearing pink t-shirt.”

And then, it clicks. Josh thinks he begins to understand how Tyler recognizes the world; this makes his heart flutter a little.

“When I eat Skittles, I pick only the green ones,” Josh starts, pausing to catch Tyler’s reaction.

“Really?” Tyler immediately perks up. “Me too! Because green means…”

“Green means comfort,” Josh finishes the sentence for him.

Tyler gives him an appraising look.

“Ha, right,” he smiles a little. “Do you know why the sky is blue?”

“Because blue means freedom?” Josh ruffles his hair.

Tyler thinks of something, chewing his cereal.

“Maybe,” he shrugs. “I’d say yes though.”

Josh totally likes this game, ignoring the way his palms go all sweaty, and he’s forced to wipe them on the hem of his NASA t-shirt.

“And the clouds are grey because they’re sad,” Josh mutters.

“You understand this concept,” Tyler raises his eyebrow. “I think I can talk to you. What’s your name?”

“Oh,” Josh smacks his palm on his forehead. “I’m Josh,” he doesn’t think Tyler is ready for a handshake but reaches his hand out anyway.

Tyler’s still sugar-stained palm sticks to Josh’s, which makes them both giggle.

“Tyler Joseph.”

Josh already knows.

They don’t have much time left before the bell will ring, but Josh doesn’t feel like leaving this bench anytime soon.

“What are we going to do next?” Josh asks but Tyler perceives his question too literally.

“I’m gonna join the basketball team next month,” he says. “And I also play the ukulele. It looks like a tiny guitar,” he explains, making a gesture like he’s playing an air instrument.

“I know what it looks like,” Josh chuckles softly. “I like to play the drums, like, I’m really into it, my parents always joke it’s the only kind of relationship I can have,” he adds.

“It’s funny,” Tyler admits. “I used to sing in a choir. And, you know, some guys from my previous school said I had those weird manners, so they called me a fa-”

“Wait,” Josh pats Tyler’s knee to stop him before the word slides off his tongue. “I got it,” he assures.

“Really?”

Josh nods.

“Yeah.”

“I’d been bullied for like three years, and then my Dad told me I should fight when somebody tries to get me,” Tyler rubs his tanned neck. “And I figured out that almost all the guys from my school were planning to beat me up, can you imagine that?”

Josh wasn’t ready for having heart-to-heart, but he has to pretend Tyler’s words don’t make his stomach drop.

“Dude, I’m sorry, that sounds terrible,” Josh chokes out.

“Of course!” Tyler agrees. “I didn’t even want to _come out_ , I even had a girlfriend, well, she was mostly just covering me and was my only friend who knew- oh no,” Tyler clamps his shaking hand over his lips while Josh freezes with his hand in the air (he was going to throw it over Tyler’s shoulder).

They both realize what Tyler has just said.

“Oh God. They will kill me,” Tyler whispers, gnawing his fingernails.

“Who?!”

“Everyone,” Tyler gets up from the bench at the same time when the bell rings.

“Tyler, wait,” Josh’s hand brushes over Tyler’s back, but he doesn’t have a right to stop him when Tyler hightails back to the school building.

“Amazing job, Josh,” Josh mutters under his breath.

 

***

It takes a week to prove that Josh isn’t going to out Tyler’s secret.

It takes a failed Math test to find the way to solve the problem.   

Josh’s hair is now light-green on the top of his head, which makes him look like an alien, according to Mark’s words. Some teachers are not pleased to see Josh’s brand new look, but he tries to shrug them off, claiming that the hair-dye is going to be washed away by the end of the week.

“I’m gonna talk to Tyler _again_ ,” Josh repeats stubbornly.

“Go ahead, little green man,” Mark laughs, taking Josh’s lunchbox filled with meat and carrots.

 

***

Tyler is sitting on the same bench near the school building, staring at the box of Waffle Crisp on his lap.

“What does black color mean?” Josh asks, flopping down onto the bench beside Tyler.

“It makes me invisible?” Tyler replies automatically. “Oh. I forgot we’re not talking anymore.”

“We’re still talking, Tyler,” Josh says calmly.

At first, he can’t even understand why Tyler looks different today, but then he notices these nerdy glasses on the bridge of Tyler’s nose. Though, Tyler promptly takes them off and shoves them into the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie.

“Yeah. Another flaw, yep,” Tyler grumbles.

“Cool glasses,” Josh shrugs unflappably.

“Don’t try to fool me, they’re my grandpa’s,” Tyler frowns, biting his bottom lip to conceal his smile.

“Whatever, they’re cool anyway,” Josh replies, earning a slight groan from Tyler. “Why do you always eat that?”

He’s afraid this might trigger Tyler again.

“Just like it,” Tyler just says. “Used to eat it when I was a kid — it was ensuring a good day for me. Though, I think it’s not working in high school.”

“I still eat it for breakfast,” Josh interjects. “Tastes good.”

He still wonders how Tyler’s lips would taste when he still has some little crumbs of Waffle Crisp on them. Maybe, Josh is going to find that out one day.

Tyler wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Wanna some?” he offers a box to Josh.

Josh is happy that Tyler doesn’t try to kill him for encroaching on his cereal anymore.

“Sure,” Josh shoves his hand into the box, fishing out some crumbled pieces.

“You didn’t tell anyone… about me,” Tyler says in a low voice. “I was going to write a testament, but you kept silent. Thank you.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” Josh swears. “By the way, you’re not the only one who’s afraid to come out.”

Tyler squints his eyes a little, and Josh nods wordlessly.

“Are you kidding me?” Tyler moans, burying his face in his hands.

“Nope,” Josh clears his throat. “Just want to be honest.”

Sometimes Josh thinks his sisters suspect something.

And maybe his way too clever brother can read his minds.

“I want to be honest, too,” Tyler suddenly raises his head up. “I really like your hair,” Tyler’s fingertips touch one of the strands carefully, like it might bite him.

“Yeah, green,” Josh gets distracted by Tyler’s crooked bottom teeth when Tyler opens his mouth to say something.

Josh wants to kiss him right now, but he doesn’t want to take a risk and do that while they might be caught by the other students at any second.

“Green,” Tyler repeats, tousling Josh’s hair. “Green means comfort.”

It really does.

**Author's Note:**

> at least i enjoyed writing this


End file.
